éclaircissement3 heres ch. 3

Clarice walked out of her apartment and almost tripped on the package that was left there by the postman. She steadied herself and then picked it up. It was lightweight and very small. She slid it into her purse and left for work.
When she reached headquarters she quickly strode to her desk and took the package out of her purse. Throwing her purse in her drawer she looked around to see if anyone was watching her. When she knew she was safe, she slowly undid the package, anticipation tingling in her toes. What she saw inside the box this time was a bottle of Lalique's perfume Le Baiser. Also there was a letter. She opened the cap smelling its contents while she unfolded the parchment. It smelled wonderful. She smoothed out the wrinkled in the paper and began to read:

Dear Clarice,
how you are feeling? Sleeping well I hope.How did you like my last gift ? I can see you haven't told anyone about my last contact with you ,for my spot on the ten most wanted still remains the same. Well CLarice I must say I wasn't sure whether you would "sell me out", but I am pleased to see you have not. I may even soon trust you enough to tell you how to write me back. Would you like that Clarice? I must say that my sleep has been a little troubled. But its not the screams of lambs that keep me awake Clarice. No, I hear a different kind of screaming but I suppose you could say our screams are similar. In my dreams I hear my sister screaming for me to help her. You didn't know about my sister did you Clarice? Quid pro quo though. You tell me about your lambs now and Ill tell you about Mischa. If you wish to contact me, take out an ad in the paper. Have it sent to M.H. and have it be from Hannah. Ill be watching for it Clarice. If you wish to know how to send me things, we'll just wait and see how far our trust can go. Let me tell you now, don't ask me where I am because I wont tell you. Not yet anyway. I hope you enjoy the perfume. Until our next correspondance.
Hannibal Lecter, m.d.

Clarice put down the letter and sighed to herself. She felt a warmth around her when she read his words. She felt so safe within them. Clarice felt a light tap on her shoulder and turned in surprise.
"Who? Oh hello Mr. Crawford. You startled me."
"Sorry Starling. Whats that?"he said pointing at the bottle of perfume.
Clarice slid saome files over the letter on her desk and picked up the bottle.
"Its a new perfume I got."
He smelled it.
"Smells nice. Um Starling.....you can go home."
"But I just got here sir."
"I know but we really dont need you today. Plus I think you need some rest."
Clarice had no idea what he was talking about. She had been off for the past 2 days.
"Well sir I was going to work on my promotion papers."
"I know Starling , I know. Its just I dont want you to...."
"DOnt want me to what sir?"
"I dont know...I just dont want you to.."
Then it hit Clarice.
"You dont want me to get my hopes up because you know Im not getting promoted. I understand sir. Thank you, good day."
Her anger evident in her voice Clarice scooped the papers from her desk into her bag and grabbed her purse and perfume and made a move to leave.
"Look Starling....you'll get a cha-"
She suddenly turned and cut him off.
"Ill get a chance. Yes sir you've said that a million times before. Ill just add this one to the others."
With that she turned and left for home.

The next time the paper ran, there was an ad for a M.H. rom Hannah that read:
M.H.
Desperatley seaking solace. Tired of dead end job.Wish to send you more than this.
We deliberatly choose to trust and yes it is a risk. I want to take that risk now. Have
faith in me.
Hannah

Hannibal put down his copy of the Washington Post and smiled. Could he trust her? A part of him was skeptical but another part of him wanted to. Then he got an idea. He would put out just a little bait to see how far she could be trusted. If she passed the test then maybe he would consider giving her a way to contact him. He wired in a response to her ad giving her an address for a PO Box in Buenos Aires. He would telephone and see if anything would arrive there and if after a week no FBI followed and his face stayed at its low spot on the top 10 then he would send for the contents and go from there.

Clarice read the response to her ad and gathered all the letters she had written from her box placing them in date order with the letter she had just finished. She then wrapped the letters in a box and sent them first class mail to the address provided to her. Then she waited.